Tamzin
Tamzin is a main character in the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time story Lost in the Echo. She is a 19 year old girl, 5"3, and has lived in the city of Alamut her whole life, having been born there. She is known for being an expert theif, and now slave-boardering-on-servant to the Priestess-Heir Lucine. 'Background' Tamzin’s parents both died when she was a little girl, and she had no siblings or other family to take care of her, so she was forced to raise herself on the streets. It wasn’t an easy life, full of dangers and hardship, and when she was 10 year old, she went through a bout of sickness that almost killed her. That experience changed and shaped her, giving her a stronger drive to live and survive, and also leading to her fear of dying. On the streets she had few friends, but wasn’t entirely without, forming almost a small band among fellow orphans. It was this almost-family that helped keep her going for several years after her illness. To live on the streets, one must have some degree of skill at thievery, and Tamzin was more than a little talented at this. After stealing since the age of 5, she was never caught, and as such, she grew slightly arrogant about her abilities. Tamzin would steal food for her and her friends to live, but she’d also take items for them to sell, so that they wouldn’t always have to be in a state of starvation. In one such occasion, she stole the glass pendant from Lucine, and managed to get a little way away with it. This turned out to be the first time she got caught, as the search for the pendant was swift and effective, she didn’t even make it out of the marketplace. Others among the Hands of Time thought it prudent to kill her, even though she didn’t know what she’d stolen, and she was inches away from being murdered. Lucine however, spoke in her defence, thinking that her skills might be useful, and convinced the others to spare Tamzin. As a result of this, Tamzin became a slave to Lucine, as was the condition for her being granted her life. She was almost a mix between a slave and servant, as Lucine never treated her fully as a slave, but she didn’t have all the rights of a servant. Tamzin’s thieving nature didn’t end even after she stepped up to a life of more luxury (albeit a working life), and she continued to make little thefts, sometimes at the behest of Lucine. 'Appearance' Tamzin is a short, slight, girl. She has dark brown hair that reaches just past her shoulders, the result of having had to cut it even shorter a few years ago, and her skin tone is also lightly tanned. She has a pretty, if mistrustful, kind of face, with almond shaped eyes of a dark green, set in a heart-shaped face. She often looks innocent, but that is what makes her also appear mistrustful. 'Personality' Tamzin has an incredible level of determination, once she has set her mind to something, she will not waver from that or lose focus. She is also totally loyal to those people that she respects/is in debt to, if she feels that loyalty for a person, then nothing and no one will be able to make her betray them or turn against them. She is resourceful, a trait leftover from her days on the streets, and is most often able to make the best of a situation. She is also good at picking up on little things, and being an observer for little details. Tamzin has a bad case of volatile emotions, and a lack of self control. She’s impulsive, doesn’t think before acting, and normally gets some kind of repercussion for that. She has a high level of arrogance and pride that often lead her to obstinacy, but she also has courage. Her biggest fears is being too weak to defend herself, and dying. 'Ambitions' Her sole ambition, is to stay alive. Having been on the streets since a young age, she knows that she’s unlikely to get anywhere in life, unless she can miraculously steal enough to gain sufficient money to get away from Alamut and start a new life. 'Strengths' She’s very good at stealing and not getting caught, a skill that kept her alive for many years. Tamzin’s small figure helps make it easy for her to slip away in a crowd, and she can go almost completely unnoticed if she wants to. She’s a good observer, normally managing to take a full scene in after a cursory glance, and she has an excellent memory. 'Weaknesses' Her overconfidence can lead her to trip up, most often with regards to an important thing, and with a large consequence. Her inability to control her opinions and emotions puts her in trouble, and she is unable to stop herself when it comes to idle thievery. Tamra has never needed to develop physical strength, relying on her speed and agility, or weapons skills and as such has very little way to defend herself if confronted. 'Habits' Stealing. Picking fights with people she shouldn’t, lying, losing control/getting angry. Tamzin also constantly checks or fiddles with a dagger that she carries, but doesn’t know how to properly use. She also wears a handflower on her left hand, an item that she once stole, but got attached to. 'Relationships' 'Friends/Other' 'Lucine' Tamzin and Lucine first met when Tamzin attempted, and successfully, stole Lucine’s necklace of glass beads. Tamzin didn’t know of their importance however, and the search that the Hands of Time went through to get them was so quick and thorough, that she didn’t even make it out of the marketplace before being found. Instead of agreeing with everyone else, Lucine had an idea that Tamzin might come in handy, and interceded on her behalf. Instead of being killed, Tamzin became a slave to Lucine, and from that day on, Tamzin was incredibly thankful to Lucine, and became totally loyal to her. Throughout the years Tamzin spent working for Lucine, she was treated as something bordering on a servant, and the pair of them also became friends. Tamzin cared for Lucine out of more than her original gratefulness, and Lucine also held a soft spot for her slave. However, Lucine’s loyalty to her Hands, and her own greed, eventually outweighed her care for Tamzin, and she was willing to let her take the fall for her actions. Despite that, and despite knowing that Lucine would be behind it, Tamzin still didn’t reveal any information even after being taken captive. The events however, did later put a strain on their friendship when Tamzin’s name was semi-cleared, and she realised that they were still close when Lucine put the beads around her neck as well so that she wouldn’t forget the events of Part A. Lucine is the one person that Tamzin feels she can tell anything to, and she trusts her with everything. To Tamzin, Lucine became the family she’d almost never had. 'Dastan' Her relationship with Dastan is mostly only there through her relationship with Lucine, and with Garsiv. She has a high level of respect for the Persian Prince, and while Tamzin doesn’t have automatic respect for those of a higher class, Dastan earned hers because he is that kind of person. They don’t get off to a very good start, what with him thinking she killed Tahmina and all, and it takes a long time for either to warm up to the other one. In the end what they have is probably best defined as a shaky truce, where they both respect the other, but they aren’t exactly friends. She knows that she can trust Dastan to do the right thing, and she knows that he’s a good person. In turn, he knows that Tamzin is the same ,despite her uh..stealing habits. 'Love Interest' 'Garsiv' Two words that describe her relationship with Garsiv: complicated, and cursed. The pair of them have a rough road from the beginning, starting when she steals something of his, and is caught. This resulted in Lucine having to sort of loan her to Garsiv in recompense, and the pair of them were perpetually clashing. She didn’t like him for being an ‘arrogant and stuck up Persian prince, who didn’t think before he acted, and probably didn’t have a brain to think with.’ Likewise, Garsiv found her to be sassy, outspoken, challenging, stubborn, and incredibly persistent. Their first development came out of the growing, and grudging, respect that they gained for one another, after seeing how the other person was around different people. She came to see that he did have it in him to be kind and think things through, and he saw in her a strength that was lacking in most people he knew. He was the only one who knew of her innocence in Tahmina’s death, and went through as extreme lengths as Dastan to prove it. Following the events of Part A, at the end of which he lost his memory of events as time was rewound, he no longer remembered falling in love with Tamzin. For him, their relationship was still at the stage where they were trying to deny the growing respect, and that was difficult for Tamzin. She very nearly gave up on him and was tempted to let things return to normal, but she didn’t, and in time Garsiv ended up falling in love with her again. He was the main person she depended on during the period of time when she was blind and held the Sands of Time within herself. Their relationship only suffered more trouble, when after freeing herself from the effects of the Sands, she forgot everything about herself and her life. This put a heavy strain on Garsiv, and he acted out in a way that only served to push her away for a little, and disbelieve the possibility that she could ever have been in love with him. However, with time, and when he’d calmed down a bit, Garsiv managed to convince her to let them start afresh, and now it was her turn to fall in love with him again. She never remembers her past, but comes to accept what Lucine, Garsiv, and Dastan tell her to be the events of her life, even if they are never true memories. She loves Garsiv because of his straightforward nature, how he is so blunt, and how great he can be when he’s thinking rationally.